


Murderous Monster

by ScarletRequiem



Category: Purple Hyacinth (Webcomic)
Genre: Angst, Help, Hurt No Comfort, I'm Sorry, Just angst, My First Work in This Fandom, No Fluff, Retelling, no beta we die like zeppelis, they both need hugs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:33:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24440629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScarletRequiem/pseuds/ScarletRequiem
Summary: "Why do you look so surprised?" he shouts, pinning her to the wall by her throat. She claws at his hand as he says, "After all-"She can see herself reflected in his eyes, terrifying, glowing, shockingly blue eyes and god, there's something wrong with his voice.His next words, not shouting but somehow louder and sharper, make her want to curl into a ball on the floor and she can see for the first time the crack in his mask."𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳," he says, and Lauren almost breaks.
Kudos: 20





	Murderous Monster

**Author's Note:**

> A retelling of chapter 34.

Lauren stands illuminated in the cave, lightning lighting her up, rain streaking down her face.

"Well, well, officer," Kieran says in that cocky, joking tone. "What a delightful surprise!"

And for a moment, Lauren is so consumed in anger that she can just snarl, "𝘒𝘪𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘯." Her liquid gold eyes are full of rage, hate, disgust, so many emotions swirling that they are impossible to read.

He stands, casual, like nothing's happening, and says in that same voice, "Want to grab a cup of coffee and chat about our days? I've been craving some!"

"𝘏𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸?" He chuckles. 

Lauren grits her teeth. 

"I know what you did last night," she says, striding forward. "You do? You know, it's really not nice to spy on me-" She cuts him off, acid in her voice.

She practically throws her coat down and spits, "You brutally slaughtered dozens of innocents at the tower- 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘶𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥!" 

"My, my, news travels fast!" he says, grinning. "𝘈𝘮 𝘐 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘺𝘦𝘵?" He laughs, and Lauren seizes the front of his shirt, yanking him down to her height.

"𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘫𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶?" She shouts. Their faces are just inches apart and her gold eyes drill into his blue ones. She shoves him back. "𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴? How can you be so 𝘯𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘵? After what you did mere hours ago?"

Water droplets are falling from her face like tears, spraying in front of her.

"𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴?" She shouts, looking back at him with some strange, new emotion on her face. It's almost regretful, almost sad, but to classify it as only those would be injustice to the feelings rushing around inside of her. 

"The leader may order you to strike, but there's not a 𝘴𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘥 of remorse in you." Her voice strains, almost breaking, and it's steady despite the fact that she sounds on the verge of a breakdown. "Just how 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 are you?"

Kieran isn't smiling anymore.

He surveys her with cold, luminescent eyes, silent. 

"Or do you actually 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺 it? Maybe it makes you 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘥 to be the most dreaded assassin the city has ever known."

"What would you do if I said yes?" He finally asks. His voice is too soft. 

"What if I 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺 watching my targets 𝘴𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮 as the blood drains from their bodies?" He looks down at her, surveying her with empty eyes like chips of ice. "𝘉𝘦𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺?" 

Lauren stares up at him, and now there's a clearer emotion reflected in her eyes. "You- you 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘨𝘶𝘴𝘵 me," she says. "You've probably known for a while that you had to kill them, and yet you said 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨."

"I thought we didn't have to tell each other everything about our hobbies," he replies, and she cries out, "𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘒𝘪𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘯?" She moves backwards, shaking her head. She presses a hand to her forehead. "𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭, what am I even doing with you?"

Her gaze, burning, fiery, meets his freezing one again. "It was stupid of me to believe you could be human even for a 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥."

"You're nothing but a 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳."

Monster is an awful word. It breaks people, tears them apart from the inside.

That's exactly what it did to Kieran.

For a moment, he seems to be drowning in blackness, clouding over him, over his too-bright eyes. Monster repeats over and over, traced with white over the black.

m̵o̸n̶s̸t̴e̴r̴

m̴̧͚̮͇͓̿̏̆̃̏͘͘ö̸̙́̔̆̽̑̀̽n̶̨̘̝͔͔̦͂͜s̴̫̼̊̌͂̍̍̏̇ẗ̴̢̝̤̞͚̬̫́̎̄̽̈́̕͠ẻ̷̘̜͉̘̲͔͠r̶̥͖̱̱͒͐͊͆͘

M̵͉̟͙̤͇̜̯͙͙̤̤̞̬̲͚̥̐̈́̍̓̈̈̓̃̑̅͆͋̂͑͗̏̉̕͝͠Ơ̸̢̢̡̗̜̘̪͇͕͚̪̠̺̩͇̜̗̼̮̻̓͊̕͠Ņ̶̛̛̦̘͍̹̺͈́͑̌͆͊͊̏̋̈͐͑͗͋̊́̑̂̚͘͠͝͠ͅS̸̢̧̛̟̜̗͉̳̭͇̞̰̠̻͉̅͑̿͒͆́̍̈́̈̅͋̀̂̐͒̀̀͐̇̀̈́͘͝͝Ţ̸͚̙͔͖̜̱̫̰̳̥̓̿̿́͆̈́̾̌͘͠Ẽ̷̡̢͚̼̘̟̬̘̥̫̦̖̮̥̳̩̄́̉̓̈̍̒̓̆͗̐͌͗̈́R̴̨̧͕͎̝͔̻̤͈͉͇͚͈̝̂̇̓̎͒̍́͆̊͘͘

Something in him snaps. He grins, then lets out an awful laugh, broken but somehow still whole.

Kieran laughs in a way that makes her question his sanity, and then, wicked grin still on his face, he speaks again, a hand over his eyes.

"You thought I was 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯?"

"̴͙̈́𝘞̵̯̓𝘩̶̛̭𝘢̵͎͊𝘵̶͈̃ ̵͔͊𝘢̴̱̾ ̷͈̆𝘮̴̤͋ô̷͚𝘯̴͑ͅ𝘶̵͔͂𝘮̴̟̈́𝘦̸͚͋ņ̶͐ţ̶̀𝘢̵̫͛𝘭̸͙̂𝘭̴̘̈́ŷ̸ͅ ̷̝̾𝘴̴̥̄𝘵̵̞͌ù̵̝𝘱̸͙̃𝘪̷͜͝𝘥̵̨̚ ̵͕́𝘮̸̼͑𝘪̸̩͊𝘴̶̫͊𝘵̸̘͠𝘢̵̗̍𝘬̷͇͘é̵̬,̷͎͝ ̷̺̄𝘥̸̯͌𝘢̶̬͘ŕ̴̮𝘭̸̮̔ì̶͖𝘯̴̟͝𝘨̸̹̅.̴͖͆"̸̩̂

Lauren's breath catches in her throat as he stares down at her, one visible eye practically glowing blue.

"𝘐'𝘮 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺." He continues, spreading his arms. "You must be the 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 person delusional enough to believe 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵."

"You knew who I was when we made our deal." He takes a step forward.

"You should have known what was waiting for you." Another step.

"What did you think you'd find underneath? 𝘈 𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭, 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘺? A lost, misunderstood sweetheart?" He asks, although it's less of a question and more of a statement.

His face is just inches away from hers as he says, "𝘖𝘩 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦, 𝘓𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘯. 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘏𝘺𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘩."

He brushes a lock of red hair behind Lauren's ear.

"The reason 𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘦 people in this city don't sleep at night."

In a blur of motion, he draws a knife and throws it. As her gaze follows it, he's behind her, arm around her neck, holding her hands, knocking her gun away.

She struggles against his arm. "𝘓𝘦𝘵 𝘨𝘰... 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘦."

"I '𝘣𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘻𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦' hours ago, didn't I?" Kieran whispers in her ear. Her eyes are wide with fear now.

"But I've done so much 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 then that," he breathes, broken eyes staring at something she can't see.

"I once carved a man's heart out of his chest and mailed it to his loved ones. Murdered an entire family, sat their corpses up in the living room, and waited all night for the father to come home. Oh, the look on his face before I stabbed him...

"𝘜𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦."

"Do you remember December 12th, XX24, Lauren? 𝘐 𝘥𝘰."

"That was the day I killed so many people at once, Hanbury Street literally ran red with their blood. Must've been horrible to clean up."

Then he spins her around, hand gripping her throat, slamming her against the wall. Lauren chokes, gripping his arm.

"Whatever the Leader told me to do, 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘪𝘵."

His hand tightens on her throat. "I could strangle you with my bare hands and not shed a single tear."

Kieran stares at her with widened eyes. "𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥?" He shouts. "𝘓𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥-"

𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳," he cries out and god there's something 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 with his voice. He isn't shouting but somehow louder, sharper, and Lauren can see for the first time the crack splintering through his mask.

She sees herself reflected in shockingly, 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘺 blue eyes. 

"𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬!"

Lauren freezes. He probably feels it and lets go, lurching back. He looks oddly surprised; he knows that's a lie.

She doubles over, coughing, hands holding her throat, looking up at him. 

Kieran turns away. "But that's not what this is about, is it?"

Lauren stops, staring at him.

"You're smart. You wouldn't have agreed to a deal without being fully aware of the possible consequences."

He continues. "And you also knew I couldn't ignore the Leader's orders. If I don't act like I've always done, he'll suspect something is wrong. And then we'd both be dead."

"You aren't mad because I killed those people," he says, turning to look at her. "You're mad because I killed 𝘈𝘯𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘸."

"What?"

Lauren shakes. "How can you say that?" She whispers in a trembling voice. "How can you say that like that's 𝘢𝘭𝘭 that mattered?"

Kieran stares back at her. "This is about what 𝘺𝘰𝘶 and what 𝘺𝘰𝘶 found in Anslow's belongings. You're angry because now you won't be able to get anything more out of him."

"How can you even 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘮 that's 𝘢𝘭𝘭 this is about-"

He cuts her off with a laugh. "𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘤! You condemn me for my crimes, but who's worse between us, Lauren? The ruthless criminal or..."

He turns to look at her.

"𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘩𝘺𝘱𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦?"

Lauren's eyes go wide and the rage is back as she glares at him, hands clenched into quivering fists. She opens her mouth to say something, but closes it instead, drawing herself up to stare at him with piercing gold eyes.

"𝘚𝘶𝘳𝘦."

Then she turns, picks up her coat, and leaves.

Kieran watches her go.


End file.
